Waste of a shot -- I've been re-vaccinated for a few things as an adult because either it was bundled with something else that was required, or the records were lost.

Yes -- this is especially relevant when it's a thread where a lot of people are going to read the first post and start giving advice over something that's been settled a long time ago.

I see your older DD is in MM -- do you have MM4 as well? I'd go ahead and trust the placement test, and if you find she needs an introduction to a specific topic, I'd pull in extra instruction on that specific topic from MM.

Stay with MUS if it's working and just keep working patiently year-round. There are other board members whose students barely made it through algebra 2 or did not make it, who still managed to get into 4-year colleges. I don't know if the outside class would be a good idea given that she needs to move slowly -- I would TRY it, but I would be ready to pull her out if she starts to flounder.

Yes. Exactly. When I see that someone has posted something where I would normally feel it necessary to respond with a rebuttal, and then I scroll down and see that someone else has already done so (especially when they have done so more graciously and elegantly than I would have), I can simply "like" their post and not write my own rebuttal.

Yes, chem is not at all a bad option.

I'd be more inclined to do physics as that's rather foundational for an engineer. I'd also look into programming if he hasn't had a course in that yet -- not necessarily a full credit but something to get his feet wet before freshman year.

I don't understand, I really don't. People responding to your comments is bullying? If you want them to be ignored, why are you posting them? People asking for proof is bullying rather than people who want to verify information? It seems that you expect people here to trust your research without doing their own, which is rather the opposite of what you said before.

Ehhh, I prefer it to seeing a whole bunch of quotes with "I agree!" Edit: I also feel no compulsion to like other people's posts if they like mine. I think the star rating was different because you could downvote rather than purely upvote. I would totally agree that being able to downvote posts would be horrible.

Continuing on ... I don't think that anybody thinks people shouldn't research issues like this and should just blindly accept whatever they're told. What they shouldn't do is use sources that are deliberately manipulating data in misleading ways. This is why I am pointing it out when I see it -- not out of a desire to shame anyone, or to call them names, but because anyone who reads the thread for information needs to be aware of the flaws in arguments as well as the arguments themselves. It does not suffice to just let each person have his/her say and make no attempts to rebut misleading information. These misrepresentations are quite convincing and easy to fool the unwary, and since mathematics is my area of interest, when I see mathematical errors I feel it important to bring them to light. Where I have done so, I have deliberately attempted to avoid emotional arguments, name-calling, and sarcasm, and stuck to factual rebuttals. I am, of course, not perfect, but I have genuinely attempted to do so. I am not a biologist and have no training there, so I am not really qualified to discuss the biological research. But when a site misrepresents the mathematics behind what they are doing, I do not feel that I can trust their assessment of the biology either.

Yep, I have some people that I know offline that were talking about how wonderful it was. Fortunately their kid was old enough when they started trying to implement it that it backfired very, very quickly and they gave up. They still think that the main issue was that they didn't start young enough.

Just because people have not come to your conclusions does not mean that they have not researched the issue.

ftr, I've seen the quotes from people, including the pediatrician who said he would report people to CPS for medical neglect for not having vaccines up to date, and I consider that ridiculous. CPS doesn't have enough resources to handle the caseload they already have, and when kids are sent back to their parents who do things like not treat UTIs because they don't want to spend the time to go get an antibiotic, I can't see it going anywhere other than to harass the parents. But I haven't seen it in this thread, although it's possible I missed a post somewhere, and it's rather unjust of you to act like everyone who's pro-vaccine agrees with those people.

This is really hilarious given your name. (total sidetrack)

I think it could work if the PE classes were more like college PE classes and less like "ok, six weeks of volleyball, six weeks of basketball, etc." You could elect classes like Aikido, Fitness Walking, Weight Training, Pilates, whatever ...

Thinking some more about high school math, because math is my specialty: I would really like to stop forcing advanced algebra and trigonometry on students who already know they do not want to go to college/into a technical field or want to major in english/history/something like that. If they want to take it for the challenge, great! But I'd rather see the average, run-of-the-mill, not-math-liking student take a series of math classes that focuses less on reaching advanced concepts as fast as possible and more on a thorough understanding of basic, basic concepts. I see people who supposedly had calculus in high school who cannot solve problems such as "If a book is on sale for $16 at 20% off, what was the original price of the book?" I would like to see the minimum level of mastery be: 1) Arithmetic -- the four basic operations, fractions, decimals, percents, and ratio. 2) Algebra -- especially the linear part of algebra 1, and also graphing and what it actually means. 3) Geometry -- but more focused on problem-solving than on two-column proofs. 4) Statistics + logic + reasoning. 5) Financial mathematics. This of course would be insufficient for someone who wanted to enter university and start at calculus, yet I feel that if my students understood this thoroughly, they could enter college, start in college algebra, and be ready for a serious calculus course in a year, rather than floundering through intermediate algebra . I would honestly expect that most "mathy" students could finish this significantly earlier, but that's ok. They can go on and take more advanced stem-major courses. I think this would give an average to sub-average student a higher level of actual understanding and proficiency than they get now from the monkey-see-monkey-do let's-answer-the-stupid-standardized-test-questions-correctly classes that populate the high schools.

I'm likely to have tears in my eyes when something is just beautiful or just awesomely cool. Oh, and at the end of It's a Wonderful Life.

Especially these. I didn't mention these, but I should have. Let's add in that they should get a lunch period long enough to actually eat their lunch, not have to bolt their food or go hungry.

Agree to some extent, less to others. For middle + secondary education, I'd like to see an extended mentoring period rather than all of the education classes. From what I've heard from students who left to teach, they felt as if their education classes did not prepare them for classroom management and the like. For elementary education, I'd like to see more specialists in math and reading from the early grades. I really think that the advanced subject knowledge would help students. I wouldn't necessarily say they'd need a math major, but a minor would be a good idea. As far as grouping, in elementary school I would like to see independently paced instruction in english and math for sure so that late bloomers can catch up and early achievers can soar as high as they can. I think trying to make every subject completely independently paced would be a logistic nightmare. In middle + secondary, I feel that most will have evened out. I'd prefer to go with tracked classes, with the higher tracks available on an opt-in basis, but students who are not passing will need to move down a track after the first marking period. In other words, I think there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with allowing a struggling student to attempt a higher track, but the teacher should not be compelled to adapt instruction to their pace. Apprenticeships and vocational instruction -- yes yes yes, although there should be a night school option for working adults who want to go to a 4 year college to pick up an academic diploma to qualify them. This should be free or very low-cost, but if you are goofing off you get suspended after the first semester with a minimum waiting period of let's say 3 years to reapply. Also, let's fund our state + community colleges sufficiently that students can pay for their own college with a minimum-wage job, and quit doing the student loans racket. Again, this would come with tighter standards on students who aren't really trying. For example, someone with a 0.0 semester gpa really needs some time off, not probation and another chance next semester. (Someone who has a 1.8, on the other hand, *should* get another shot).

Not really, but assuming it's not a scam, you're probably not going to get anywhere arguing with them.

I'd consider it more of a college algebra + trig book with a heavily geometric approach. It's his college algebra book with the trig chapters from the precalc book added in -- the algebra instruction in the precalc book is condensed. I think it could be done after an algebra 1 such as Foerster's and a solid geometry, for a strong student, but in that case I would schedule it over 1.5 years rather than 1. In college it is for a two semester sequence. Edit: I really like the instruction on "e". I think it's one of the most misunderstood concepts, and it's one of the reasons I've been considering adopting it.

Library sales are why all my bookshelves runneth over

This annoys me so much. Someone who wants to and puts in the effort should be able to graduate from high school with a cosmetology license, or a welding certificate, or a CDL, or CNA (possibly even LPN for accelerated students), or some other associate's degree, or at least coursework towards it. Some of these are impractical to offer at the high school but it would be totally possible to schedule them in at the CC if they are not trying to meet 4-year college-prep requirements at the SAME TIME.

There are actually a few schools that have done it -- AICE -- but I'd love to see it more widely available. Personally I'd like to see more options in high school -- a narrower focus but more depth in subjects such as the A levels, or a broader focus such as we have now, or a vocational focus.

Yeah, unfortunately, when one of their stated issues is that there isn't enough Christianity in the curriculum it's difficult to picture most secular colleges going for it. I'd be all over more CBE that wasn't college board.